"Id take the opposite side of your argument re. getting into bed...

"Id take the opposite side of your argument re. getting into bed with an underfunded startup - they need to find channels for innovation, as the bigger you get the less innovate you become,"

Don't think that is true at all. The bigger the more innovative, in fact industry leading. Microsoft, Google et. al. they are the ones sucking up all the PhD's from MTI, Yale, Stanford and so forth and all the do is innovate day in and day out. That's how things like Google's Willow comes about.
These companies R&D budgets are enormous, bigger than many top ASX50 market caps.

I just checked and Infineon spent EUR 2 billion on R&D in '24